'Mudslinging' to celebrate work on O'Connor house

by Dianna M. Náñez - Oct. 16, 2009 01:01 PMThe Arizona Republic

A piece of Arizona history is being celebrated Western-style in Tempe on Sunday.

Last year, a group of Valley residents began working to preserve the Paradise Valley adobe house where former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor lived with her family before being appointed to the nation's highest judicial bench.

O'Connor's home was scheduled for demolition by the current landowners.

Tempe's City Council joined in the preservation effort by offering the O'Connor house a place to relocate.

The 51-year-old adobe was moved brick by brick to Tempe, adjacent to the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park.

The rehabilitation effort is ongoing as is fundraising to finish the project. But on Sunday, O'Connor is leading what she describes as a "mudslinging" to celebrate volunteers' work to date on the project.

Mudslinging, O'Connor style, involves slathering a milk-and-mud concoction on the house's adobe walls to seal the exterior. O'Connor and her husband, John, used to do that work together when they lived in the house where they reared their three sons.

Plans are for the adobe to be used as a center for civic discourse where O'Connor hopes bipartisan talks will broker solutions for Arizona's future.

There is limited space to join the 5 p.m. Sunday celebration, which includes a light dinner and Western dancing. The $50 cost of the ticket covers the food.

Reservations are being taken until 5 p.m. Friday with Betsy Mason at 602-263-0837 or betsy@gotchasecretarial.com. To find out more about the O'Connor House Project or to donate to the rehabilitation: www.oconnorhouse.org/.